Interplay of metallicity, ferroelectricity and layer charges in SmNiO₃/BaTiO₃ superlattices

We find that, despite the metallic screening of SmNiO₃, the spontaneous polarization of BaTiO₃ always aligns with the layer polarization of the SmNiO₃ formal charges. We also find zero critical thickness for the ferroelectricity in BaTiO₃ in this orientation.

The opposite polarization direction is highly disfavored for thin BaTiO₃ slabs but becomes less unstable with increasing slab thickness. We construct a simple electrostatic model that allows us both to study the behavior for thicker BaTiO₃ and SmNiO₃ slabs and to extract the influence of various material parameters on the behavior. We mimic a metal-insulator transition in the SmNiO₃ by varying the metallic screening length, which we find influences the stability of the ferroelectric polarization.